Page 11 - SAMENA Trends - January 2020

FEATURED SAMENA TRENDS

Q. What are the TRA’s major achievements We’ve reviewed the Telecoms Law of The Government of
over the last two years with regard to Bahrain and our licensing frameworks to
industry development, progressiveness adopt new technological developments in Bahrain recognizes that
in regulatory approaches, and delivery of the sector so as to future-proof and cope effective and sustainable
digitally led public services? with the demands of tomorrow. One of
the major objectives of NTP4 is to target competition plays an
A. Establishing the National Broadband 95% percent coverage of all households important role in creating
Network is among the TRA’s most with fiber-optic infrastructure providing a a strong and dynamic
significant undertakings, the impact minimum of 100 Mbps speeds, and 100%
of which will be felt for generations to coverage for businesses and mobile public sector. In this regard,
come. It is already playing major role in stations with a minimum of 1Gb. We’ve Government considers
developing Bahrain as an ICT Hub for the made great progress in this respect and
region by attracting leading global content are well on our way towards achieving “sustainable competition”
and service providers to the Kingdom of related goals. to mean an environment in
Bahrain, such as Amazon Web Services.
which operators compete
effectively on the basis
of price and quality of
service, while being able
to invest sufficiently to

support the deployment
of new technologies and
innovative services

Q. What are the key dynamics of Kingdom
of Bahrain’s Telecoms/ICT sector, and
how has the Batelco Separation project
translated into new opportunities for the
sector and the consumer?

A. The Government of Bahrain recognizes
that effective and sustainable competition
plays an important role in creating a
strong and dynamic sector. In this regard,
Government considers “sustainable
competition” to mean an environment in
which operators compete effectively on the
basis of price and quality of service, while
being able to invest sufficiently to support
the deployment of new technologies and
innovative services, with entry based on
a long run business model rather than
short run arbitrage opportunities. Bnet, the
newly established infrastructure provider,
is responsible for deploying and operating
a ubiquitous ultra-fast national broadband
network based on fiber-optic technology,
and is capable of delivering wholesale
products and services that achieve the
performance targets referenced in the
NTP4 and in line with the industry best
practices.

The TRA further recognizes that
effective and sustainable services-

11 JANUARY 2020